Smart and evil sounds more interesting, but then good and dumb is probably easier to keep amused.
I have a wife and kid, so does being evil mean that I’m evil to everyone, or just to people outside my personal circle, like Tony Soprano? Because if the latter, smart and evil would probably be able to provide for them better than good and dumb.
Regardless, if you have to be dumb, you should definitely be good. Dumb and evil is just a Fark headline (or a Darwin award) waiting to happen.
But with that slip you’ve identified yourself anyway!
Though a really smart person would have realized that, so maybe not…!
I was thinking about this just the other day. I got annoyed at my 9-year-old daughter (who’s quite smart) for saying “I dunno, whatever” to some minor problem I presented her with. She’s not been in the habit of saying that before, and I told her that she should never dumb herself down. “I don’t care if your friends think it’s funny or cool to be stupid, you’re not and you should despise it. Don’t be nasty about it, but when you get right down to it, I’d rather you be a smart jerk of a person than a cheerfully stupid and nice person.”
It’s true, too. I like goodness, but I respect smartness, and while I aspire to exhibit both, I’d rather be respected than liked.
I believe I’ve been all of these things during my lifetime. Being dumb, as you have defined it, is not as painful as you might think. The pleasure of being ethical is more satisfying in the long run that the pleasure of being unethical. But I do miss being smart. Sometimes I forget about that person altogether.
Why is it a bonus? As mentioned before (With examples), evil and dumb is at least entertaining. (For others, granted, but it serves a greater good than being dumb and good does.)